91-year-old man beaten with a brick asks God’s forgiveness for his attacker

Rodriguez told KABC that he is thankful that she was arrested, but he doesn’t resent her or the other men involved. He said any punishment should come from the law.
“May God forgive her for what she did to me,” he told KABC.
He wishes God’s blessings on the woman and himself, he added.

Baby Boomers Are Returning to Church

One of the most significant longitudinal studies (a study over many years) ever done provides a treasure trove of information for church leaders.
And one of the most significant findings is the increasing number of baby boomers becoming more involved in religious activity like churches.

I’ve Been Fired. Now What?

1. Your ministry is not over until the Lord says so.
2. You will never regret being extraordinarily gracious.
3. You made some mistakes, too. They aren’t perfect; neither are you.
4. Pray.

To be resilient, face tragedy with humour and flexibility

An important component of cognitive flexibility is accepting the reality of our situation, even if that situation is frightening or painful. To remain effectively engaged in problem-oriented and goal-directed coping, we must keep our eyes ‘wide open’, and acknowledge, rather than ignore, potential roadblocks. Avoidance and denial are generally counterproductive mechanisms that can help people for a while, but ultimately stand in the way of growth, interfering with the ability to actively solve problems.

Teen’s hot dog stand gets support and a permit

According to Ebeling, Faulkner did need to make some changes to his stand. He had to get a tent for overhead protection, a hand washing station and the city also gave him a thermometer to check the temperatures of his sausages and hot dogs.
Health Department staff even chipped in to help pay for his $87 permit.
“Surprisingly, I’m like, dang the city’s not the bad guys in this situation. They’re actually the ones who are helping me,” Faulkner said. “It makes me feel kind of—not kind of—really proud that people know what I’m doing.”

Iceland is building its first Nordic paganist temple in 1000 years

The Norse gods are making a strong comeback after a thousand years in the shadows. Outmaneuvered by Christianity around year 1000, Nordic paganism is now Iceland’s fastest growing religion. From 570 members in 2002, the ‘association of the faith of the Æsir’ – Ásatrúarfélagið – now numbers 3900 Icelanders, making it the largest non-Christian religion in the country.

Die Hard at 30: how it remains the quintessential American action movie

There’s not a wasted moment in Die Hard, not a moment when the audience feels confused about who’s who or what’s going on or where the characters are in relation to each other. It seems like simplest, most banal part of a making a movie, but it must be the hardest, because the vast majority of actioners, even good ones, don’t succeed in doing it.

The Message That Moved the SBC

Criswell’s 40-minute message was an impassioned plea for a return to the Word and this represented a 65-year ministry spent proclaiming the Word. He believed the Bible was a hill on which to die. And the history of the SBC ever since has proved him right. 30 years later, we’re facing the same battles today in the church. Will we tolerate liberalism and a low view of the scriptures? Or like Criswell, will we, even through tears, take a stand on the inerrant Word of God?

Trump, Immigration and the Truth

Christians should love truth more than country. They should love the poor more than money. They should worship the God of the Exodus and not bow down to those who enslave others to make an extra buck. Christians should exalt and live into the reality of God’s Kingdom and not pledge allegiance to any flag because their allegiance belongs to the cross of Christ.

Brett Kavanaugh Is a Good Supreme Court Pick and the Reason Many Voted for Trump

So, I support this nominee and I am thankful for his nomination from President Trump. And, I also acknowledge the many Christians who voted for Trump did so they could have such a Supreme Court Justice as was nominated today.
I get that for many, there is simply an irrational response to anything positive being said about President Trump. So be it. But, regardless, I am thankful a conservative court will move away from judicial and social activism.

Brett Kavanaugh Is a Troubling Supreme Court Pick for Black Christians

We need to be sure that religious freedom and free speech extends to athletes who silently protest social issues in public spaces. We need to call out the hypocrisy of NFL owners who ask athletes to “just play football” and turn around and endorse federal judicial nominations on team Twitter accounts.
To make this nomination about Roe and dough (i.e. the religious freedom highlighted in the Christian baker case) ignores other essential issues Christians should care about—including immigration, health care, and labor laws.

Did Congress Print the First American Bible?

The role of religion in the founding is one of the most controversial historical subjects in America today. Secularists and Christian America advocates tend to go to extremes, with the former arguing that Christianity had virtually nothing to do with the founding, and the latter arguing that it had everything to do with the founding. The actual history brings us to a more reasonable position: Christian principles were powerfully if imperfectly present in the political culture of the founding, but many of the major founders were not traditional Christians. It is certainly not clear that they were seeking to create a “Christian nation” of the sort imagined by Christian America partisans.

Five Reasons a Wave of Revitalization of Churches Is Likely

Here is where I take a contrarian position compared to many others, including positions I have held in the past: Of the 300,000 churches in need of revitalization, 100,000 will revitalize organically or internally, and another 100,000 will be revitalized through replanting. It’s a bold assertion, but something that could very well unfold over the next five to ten years.

Why Your Church Needs a Hispanic Ministry

We have a God given chance to really represent the gospel to Latinos. Their community can be transformed if they know Jesus, just like any other community. There is a window of opportunity to reach nearly 60 million Latinos in America today, and the number will continue to grow.
This group who will soon become the majority will be shaping American culture in the near future. The Church needs to realize the mission field has changed; it has come to America. We must embrace the call of Jesus to preach to all and take advantage of this opportunity to minister to an entire people group.

This is how you make a disciple

So I got to see John baptize his friend Charlie into Christ.
Because believers lived Jesus, prayed for him, welcomed him, talked about Jesus with him, encouraged him to stay on the journey, and a visiting preacher told just the right story to convict him. Planting and watering and watching God give the increase.

7 Ways to Share the Gospel Without Being a Jerk

1. Kindness goes a long way.
2. Honesty shows and gains respect.
3. Ordinary conversations matter most.
4. You can only share what you know.
5. Share the actual gospel.
6. Don’t talk too much. Listen.
7. Play the long-game. Persevere.

Three Ways Churches Will Be Impacted in the Revitalization Wave That Is Coming

1. About one-third of these churches will revitalize organically.
2. About one-third of these churches will revitalize through replanting and/or being acquired.
3. About one-third of these churches will decline and die.

How are American Protestant Churches Welcoming Their Guests?

• 96% have an opportunity to meet the pastor after the service.
• 95% have greeters at the entrances.
• 83% have cards guests are asked to complete.
• 78% have a central location where guests can learn about the church.
• 69% set aside time during the service for regular attenders to welcome guests.
• 65% periodically host an information session for new people to learn more about the church.
• 44% have books in the pews for all attenders to indicate they were present that collects visitor information.
• 42% have gifts for guests.
• 24% have greeters or attendants in the parking lot.
• 17% ask guests to stand in the worship service.

Movements Come and Go, the Church Remains

This is why I’ll take the local church over “movements” any day. Yes, God does unique things in history where he refreshes and revives his people. He sends revivals and awakenings. But in order for movements to keep moving, they have to keep pushing the boundaries, which often leads to problems.
Faithful ministry isn’t about pushing boundaries, for the most part. It’s about proclaiming the same gospel truths, again and again.

Russia sent Obama a blunt message about Cuba, and now Trump is giving the edge back to Moscow

“Russia sees it as a moment to further its own relationship with Cuba,” Jason Marczak, director of the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, told Reuters in December. “The more the Russian footprint increases in Cuba, the more that will reinforce hardened anti-US attitudes.”
Rhodes has said that Trump curtailing ties with Cuba “delivered a better deal for Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.”
Trump’s moves have also injected more uncertainty at a time of generational political change in Cuba.

The rise of ‘pseudo-AI’: how tech firms quietly use humans to do bots’ work

This practice was brought to the fore this week in a Wall Street Journal article highlighting the hundreds of third-party app developers that Google allows to access people’s inboxes.
In the case of the San Jose-based company Edison Software, artificial intelligence engineers went through the personal email messages of hundreds of users – with their identities redacted – to improve a “smart replies” feature. The company did not mention that humans would view users’ emails in its privacy policy.

It Only Takes an Hour for Bacteria to Spoil Your Picnic Foods

Typically, cooked food is safe to leave out at room temperature for up to two hours, Lifehacker reports. Beyond that, it should be kept out of the “danger zone” of 40°F to 140°F by being either refrigerated or kept hot using a heating source: This keeps bacteria from thriving. But food left outdoors on a warm day (above 90°F) chops that rule in half. Food only has about an hour under the Sun before bacteria like Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus begin to multiply rapidly and greatly increase your chances of falling ill.

How One Nashville Designer Makes Domestic Violence Victims Feel At Home Again

She says the vision from the very beginning was to make domestic abuse survivors feel two things when they walked in their new home: “We want them to feel like somebody cared, and we want to feel like they have hope. The biggest thing is hope. We’re trying to make a difference one home at a time.”

Churchgoers Stick Around for Theology, Not Music or Preachers

The study of Protestant churchgoers found most are committed to staying at their church over the long haul. But more than half say they would strongly consider leaving if the church’s beliefs changed.
Pastors often worry about changing church music and setting off a “worship war,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. But few say they would leave over music.
Churchgoers are much more concerned about their church’s beliefs.
“Mess with the music and people may grumble,” he said. “Mess with theology and they’re out the door.”

Report: Gang Members Rarely Enter the US, People Fleeing Them Do

For all the talk about MS-13, it would be easy to think that gang members regularly attempt to enter the United States, but according to statistics put out by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, that’s simply untrue.
According to their numbers, only 0.09 percent—less than a tenth of 1 percent—of the 310,531 people detained for illegal entry in 2017’s fiscal year were a member of a Central American gang.

For the first time, U.S. resettles fewer refugees than the rest of the world

But in 2017, the U.S. resettled 33,000 refugees, the country’s lowest total since the years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a steep drop from 2016, when it resettled about 97,000.
Non-U.S. countries resettled more than twice as many refugees as the U.S. in 2017 – 69,000 – even though refugee resettlement in these nations was down from 92,000 in 2016.

Shifting Public Views on Legal Immigration Into the U.S.

The survey by Pew Research Center, conducted June 5-12 among 2,002 adults, finds that 38% say legal immigration into the United States should be kept at its present level, while 32% say it should be increased and 24% say it should be decreased.

How my American Dream is different from my parents’

Despite coming from four generations, some common themes emerged: No matter their age, respondents agreed that their parents had more stability; most don’t believe retirement is attainable; many delayed or decided against having kids; and most care about finding meaning in their work and making the world a better place (busting the stereotype that that’s something only millennials care about).

Millennials Are Turning Their Backs On Religion—Here Are 3 Reasons Why

But now, politics aren’t the only thing to blame here. Rather than leaving conservative churches in favor of churches that are more wide-ranging, millennials are leaving religion altogether. Political frustration may be a key factor, but it’s much more complicated than that.

Do Churches have the Right to Discipline Each Other?

There seems to be an attitude of some brethren, and especially those who stand in pulpits or sit in boardrooms, that it is a major responsibility of faithful Christians to be the poster-children of defending the faith. It is merely my opinion, that over the years these brethren who have a policing attitude have truly done more harm than good. That what energy they could have spent in reaching out to the lost they have wasted on Christians over disputes about doubtful things. And that to assume we are in the same place or hold the same position as the Apostles did with regard to first century establishments seems a bit arrogant.

Preach Like Keith Green Sang

Compared to the Contempo Casuals style of evangelicalism so popular today, Keith Green is the second coming of John the Baptist. His earnestness was refreshing. But many earnest men can be boring. Green’s earnestness came with passion. Lord, give us more preachers like that, preachers who from their guts just want us to behold the beauty of Jesus like that vision is all that matters.

Dad ‘breastfeeds’ newborn after mom has C-section complications

Due to complications after a mom’s emergency C-section, one superdad took on the caregiver role like never before.
A nurse at the hospital created a way for the dad to “breastfeed” his newborn daughter, and Maxamillian Kendall Neubauer handled it like a champ.
In the now-viral Facebook photos, Neubauer wrote, “I was fortunate enough to slap on a suction cup fake nipple. Being the first to breast feed da baby!!!!”

The Age Gap in Religion Around the World

Although the age gap in religious commitment is larger in some nations than in others, it occurs in many different economic and social contexts – in developing countries as well as advanced industrial economies, in Muslim-majority nations as well as predominantly Christian states, and in societies that are, overall, highly religious as well as those that are comparatively secular.

Mediafugees: An online platform by and for migrants

Mediafugees is an online media platform created to give migrants a voice. It publishes articles about migration issues, all of which have been written by migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

8 Habits of the Excellent Bible Teacher

1. The Habit of Preparation
2. The Habit of Love
3. The Habit of Prayer
4. The Habit of Learning
5. The Habit of Bible Mastery
6. The Habit of Limit
7. The Habit of Humility
8. The Habit of Gratitude

The Five R’s of Gospel-Centered Church Revitalization, Part 1
The Five R’s of Church Revitalization, Part 2

• First, reframe on grace
• Second, realign on mission
• Third, recast gospel vision
• Fourth, remember the journey
• Finally, renew all things

This 95-Year Stanford Study Reveals 1 Secret to Living a Longer, More Fulfilling Life

But what you can do, starting today, is actively work toward achieving one of your goals. Working toward a goal will make you happier. Working hard to achieve a goal will help you live longer.
Actively pursuing a goal, even if you never quite achieve it, will make your life more fulfilling, both now and when you eventually look back on a life well-lived.

“Are you in a hurry?”

The two opportunities:

1. Redefine “in a hurry” to be a version of your best self. So that “hurry” isn’t a crutch, an excuse or a bane. It’s an asset.
2. Turn on “hurry” whenever you need it, and turn it off when you don’t.

Domino’s Is Fixing America’s Crappy Roads For Pizza Safety And That’s Pretty Embarrassing

To remedy this, Domino’s has been hiring work crews to repair potholes in a number of cities, including Burbank, California (five holes fixed), Bartonville, Texas (eight holes), an impressive 40 holes fixed in Milford, Delaware, and an astounding 150 potholes filled in Athens, Georgia.

How Bats Protect Rare Books at This Portuguese Library

The bats that live in the library don’t damage the books and, because they’re nocturnal, they usually don’t bother the human guests. The much bigger danger to the collection is the insect population. Many bug species are known to gnaw on paper, which could be disastrous for the library’s rare items that date from before the 19th century. The bats act as a natural form of pest control: At night, they feast on the insects that would otherwise feast on library books.

Nigerian man buries his father in a brand new $88,000 BMW SUV to fulfill his promise to buy him a nice car

However, a well-heeled Nigerian man, identified only as Azubuike, buried his father in a brand new BMW SUV instead of a coffin to see him off in style in the local village graveyard. According to local reports, Azubuike had always promised his dad that one day he would have a fancy car. But when he lost his father to old age, he decided to fulfill his promise and bought a new BMW luxury car worth $88,000 from the showroom to burry him in it.